The Braddon electorate would be hardest hit under a proposal by Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton to introduce a $6 fee for visiting a GP.Source: News Limited

FAMILIES in Braddon will bear the brunt of a proposed $6 GP fee because they have higher rates of bulk billing.

More than 84 per cent of patients in the North-West electorate are bulk billed, well above the national average of 81 per cent, Medicare data shows.

Patients in Braddon would have to pay an extra $2.6 million a year for health care if the fee goes ahead.

The electorate has been hit by a number of big industry job losses during the past 12 months and has the highest rate of unemployment in Tasmania.

The Government’s Commission of Audit is examining a $6 fee as a way of saving $750 million over four years.

The official Medicare data shows Labor electorates would be worst hit.

The Labor electorate of Chifley, which has the highest bulk billing rate in the country, has twice as many services bulk billed as Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s electorate of Warringah, where only 61 per cent of services are bulk billed.

Comments on this story

Karen Cassidy of Launceston Posted at 12:25 PM February 26, 2014

Yes, Sheena. who do these people think they are, being able to go to the doctor and get medical treatment for themselves and their children when they need to, regardless of whether they have cash on hand at the time? What a sense of entitlement!

Brian Young of Austins Ferry Posted at 8:46 AM February 26, 2014

What's bulk billing? I have never seen it where I've been.

Sheena Lawley of West Hobart Posted at 8:41 AM February 26, 2014

As I see it, they're very lucky they have been bulk billed for so long.